The recent public meltdown of former teen mom star Ryan Edwards has been difficult for many to watch.
Even if you’ve never been a fan of Ryan’s — though few Teen Mom viewers ever were — you might find that the accounts of his tirades and erratic behavior trigger memories of your own experiences with unstable addicts.
Naturally, the situation has been hardest on those who were directly affected by Ryan’s abuse.
We’re talking, of course, about Ryan’s wife, Mackenzie Standifer — who had the presence of mind to record the threats she received from Edwards — but also his children, who once again bore witness to his appalling behavior.
Ryan’s eldest child, 14-year-old son Bentley, had been rebuilding his relationship with his estranged father in the months ahead of his relapse.
And now, it seems that all of that work may have come crashing down.
Dr. Cheyenne Bryant—known as “Coach B” to teen mom fans — had been working with Ryan and Bentley to help them communicate in a more productive fashion.
Coach B discussed her disappointment over recent developments in a new interview with The Ashley’s Reality Roundup.
“It’s a really tough situation. It’s extremely heartbreaking and tough for Bentley, because he is the one that’s being directly affected,” she told the outlet.
,[Ryan] was working, he was doing better than he had done in the past. He was communicating with Bentley more,”
“They were having one-on-one dad/son time. Their relationship was actually starting to become a little more substance-based than it had been before.”
Coach B says the situation is made that much sadder by all the progress Ryan and Bentley had been making.
“Bentley shared that he was enjoying the newness of having more contact and spending more time with his dad,” she said.
“He had even learned some new things about [Ryan] that were really enlightening for Bentley,” Bryant continued.
“My heart is sad for both, Ryan and Bentley, because I can only imagine how Ryan feels about breaking his commitments to himself as a man, and to his son, who he wants a relationship with.”
Coach B says she takes some solace in the fact that she helped Bentley prepare for this sort of downturn.
“My heart broke for Bentley, and the disappointment that I know he felt…but we also prepared and talked a lot about how [their relationship] was [in a good place then]but ‘in the event that [Ryan] takes a pivot, these are the feelings you may feel. These are the tools I want you to use if [Ryan] pivots,'” she said.
“I don’t judge Ryan for it because I have an understanding with the challenges that come with addiction,” Bryant added.
She went on to say that Ryan’s relapse likely came as a harsh blow to Bentley, but it needn’t knock the teen off course.
“The main thing is to make sure that Bentley is processing his emotions, he’s not shutting down… and to make sure he’s not personalizing his dad’s decisions, so that Bentley doesn’t take on the weight of his father’s choices,” she said.
“That’s a very, very challenging thing to learn and to do as a kid of an addict parent.
We wish Bentley all the best as he navigates this difficult time.